I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

My new little brother (new because he's my brother-in-law) just turned in his mission papers on Thursday. It's kind of exciting to me. I guess we have a brother on a mission right now, but he's coming home in November, and I've only talked to him on the phone... so I kind of feel bad but I forget he exists sometimes. Yep, I'm a jerk sister.

I'm really excited for Parley to get his mission call. We made our guesses. To make it official for everyone outside the family, I'm guessing Texas, or Chili... Cory is guessing Louisiana or El Salvador. (In his family you get one state-side guess and one out-of-states guess.)

It makes me think back on my own mission and how neat of an experience it was. I even ran into an Elder from my mission yesterday. In fact, he approached me asking if I remembered him. I didn't... but that's really because he served in an area I was in just after I left. I was amazed ANYONE remembered me at all. That felt really good.

I'm proud of Jared who is serving now, and I'm proud of Parley who will probably be leaving for his mission in the next few months. I hope that the next 4 brothers in line will follow suit and that Hyrum will also decide to serve the Lord in this capacity. It is a huge blessing and opportunity for them, family, and friends.

And just so everyone is aware, I will now have a brother or two serving a mission for the next... close to 10 years. So neat!

It's just so great because, besides my dad, I am the only one in my immediate family who served a mission. So I get to finally help little brothers prepare, etc. I get to tell him to be nice and look up to the example of the Sister missionaries. Because... well, there are a LOT of elders who didn't like us just because we were girls on missions. Sad, right?

I am grateful to all the young men and women choosing to put life aside to serve the Lord. And I'm grateful for my husband, whom the Lord trusted so much to give the experiences he had on his mission, who also decided to serve faithfully.

I know the Lord is continuing to bless us.

The End

I realized I still haven't written about my last week of EFY.

My last week.

I will say it was completely bittersweet.

I had another group of 16 & 17 year old girls. This time we had two groups of boys. So that was super fun... and frustrating in its own way. But I still loved them, as I always do.

I had two girls that struggled with anxiety. I was able to bond with one of them really well because of it. But this was no small anxiety. Her anxiety attacks, standard, were the same and the worst one I ever had. (I think, in a way, my anxiety attack a while back was a blessing to help prepare me for this girl. Everything has a purpose.) This girl, her life is hard. She's the only member in her immediate family, one of her parents is an alcoholic, she's the only youth in her ward, and the only member in her high school. Granted, I was never as physically isolated as a member, but I sure felt a lot of social isolation. We were pretty much best friends by the end of the week. At least I felt that way.

I felt like I wasn't really able to sit back and enjoy my last week partially because of the anxiety issues. But at the same time, it also allowed me to relax and see it from a different point of view... and let the boys take over.

I can't really remember most of what went down that week. I remember being really frustrated at one of my cos because he was a goof-off and I felt like he was more there to entertain and be given attention than teach.

By the end of the week, I was so grateful that I took the time that I did have with my youth to share my testimony with them. Most of them actually left me notes of gratitude, sharing what they learned and sharing their testimonies with me. It was awesome.

I even had a non-member in my group, which I had never had before.

I had the step-sister of the session director's wife in my group.

I had a girl whose dad was dying from some nerve disease that was causing his brain to decay.

I got to teach about families again. :)

It was an amazing week that strengthened my testimony that everything we experience can be for our good and the good of others. It strengthened my testimony of eternal families.

I just love EFY, and I can't believe I'll never work as an EFY counselor ever again. But I have been blessed. No doubt about that.

This Is My Confession

I confess... I am a crybaby.

Cory and I went to the SS office last week to get my name changed, and as we were sitting at the counter, I started to cry. I think it started when my name was too long to put into the forms and I had to make a choice. "Kayla Danielle Merriman Scott" was not going to work. It's one letter too long. *sigh* I know, I'm crazy. But I want to keep all of my names. "Kayla" wasn't going anywhere, obviously. Unless I wanted to be radical and change my whole name to something like Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock. (Those of you who watch the show will get the joke, but I think the point is still valid.) I didn't want to give up "Danielle" either because throughout all of high school, I had an identity crisis and went by Dani instead of Kayla. And, I know most girls are so willing to give up their maiden name as a symbol of accomplishing their life goal of getting married. But I'm not most girls, and I really, really LOVE the Merriman name. It ties me to my family. Or at least that's how I feel about it. It's one of the few things that I share with my brother, and what tells people I am my father's daughter. I have an unnatural attachment to my father. Not unnatural in a bad way. But the man raised me. I guess, subconsciously, I wanted to pass on his name to show the world how much I love and appreciate him and all of his sacrifices. (I can't leave my mom out, she has done a ton in the past many years, and especially for the wedding, to make sure I was alive and well.)

So I had two options, since Kayla Danielle Merriman Scott was out of the picture. Ultimately, I had to make a sacrifice. The government always crushes your dreams, right? (That was a joke...) After the deal was done, I signed the paper, and we walked away, I cried again. And again when I saw my name on my shiny new SS card.

Even in church, when people call me Sister Scott, it still doesn't feel like me.

I confess, I also cry everywhere else.

Any time I hear my husband singing and playing a love ballad, I cry. Well, to be fair, sometimes he IS singing directly to me. And sometimes we sing together. Just because we're like that.

I cry when I pray, thanking my Heavenly Father for my wonderful life, families, blessings, learned lessons, moments of inspiration or opportunity...

I am a crybaby.

L.O.V.E

After almost 8 months of being engaged, Cory and I finally got married!!! Yep! We did it! And it was the most beautiful experience ever. Never have I felt the Spirit more strongly than when I knelt across the alter in a temple of God to be sealed for time and all eternity to this man.

I'll admit, not having a car for the entire week before the wedding and not having everything finished until the night before really did stress me out. I got maybe 4 hours of sleep on Thursday. But, it didn't matter. Everything turned out beautifully. Cory had to put up with my venting here and there, but I'm sure we'd both rather me let it out than keep it in.

Also, for those of you who left early, you missed Cory singing to me. He arranged the last two verses of a song just for me. I love him so much!!!

I'll try to post some pictures soon. Well, once I get them, you'll see them.

We spent the rest of the weekend at family functions. My parents got us a hotel in SLC, which was great since we'd have to do a lot of back-and-forth driving otherwise. Gma Scott's 90th birthday bash was a huge success, and Kelli and Kristy's baby blessings were just wonderful. They even asked Cory to participate, which really meant a lot to me. I am so grateful my family loves him. My brother, Matthew, even approved, though he only met him the night before the wedding. That meant a lot to me too. I am just so grateful for all of the support of our family and friends. This weekend would have been miserable (except the temple part) without everyone.

Last night we headed up to Park City. Gma & Gpa Parker have a condo up here that is just lovely and became available for us last minute. So we get to spend a couple nights up here for a honeymoon. Cory cooked me breakfast this morning, so I'm making him dinner tonight.

I am mostly so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful and talented husband. He has filled my life with so much joy over the past year and I am so excited to see what our future holds!